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An album from the Enigmatic “Man in White”

Rixa White and his music project “Silentaria” have been very busy indeed, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have “The Beginning of the End” to review. So before moving on to discuss the music, a few brief thoughts on the first question. Who is Rixa White? My thoughts on that are as follows: I don’t want to know. You see, anyone who goes to such lengths to protect their identity must have some very good reasons in doing so. Bands like Crimson Glory, Kiss, GWAR, Lordi and Slipknot have done similar and I can certainly see the appeal of having a horde of fans at your shows, and then when it’s all done, taking the mask off and walking down to the shops and being left in peace. In essence, the best of both worlds. The focus should be the music.

Now at this point I should admit to being a fan of Vangelis (who ironically first started out in prog rock with Demis Roussos) and I can most definitely blame that on the film Blade Runner. Some comparisons have been made between the two which I think is a little unfair. Vangelis is more “symphonic electronica”, more grandiose, whereas Silentaria has more of the ambient new age electronica feel to it, and has resisted the urge to throw in oddities for the sake of it.

Opening track “Emerge” gives an immediate insight into what to expect, ethereal synthesizers, chilled out ambience, and is a little “Sacred Spirit” but without the Native American chants. “The Beginning of the End” is a confirmation of the direction the album is headed in. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Mark Snow and Sylvester Levay’s work, but here there’s a very solitary feel to the music. In fact, if you cast your mind back to the old days you could easily place this music with the “3DMark” tech demos portraying very surreal scenes such as the statue in the rain (2001).

Electronica, “New Age” ambient chill music is unapologetically what it is. Silentaria / Rixa White has thankfully resisted the urge to draft in elements of dubstep, or whatever else happens to be fashionable at the time, and has remained true to his musical vision. And while I’ve mentioned his musical vision I wonder if perhaps he may pair up his music with his poetry in future works.

Like this:

Every Friday, a band or artist is featured in Musical-Things music blog and this week it was Rixa White, Silentaria. Here is the article about Silentaria on Friday May 25, 2013. Read the full article here.

This week’s special guest is multi-talented Rixa White. Read on…

Rixa proves that the art of creating beautiful melodies in music is still alive by effortlessly producing them throughout his music. His style, largely instrumental, seamlessly blends classic electronic sounds such as synthesizers and drum machines with more acoustic elements. Rixa’s pieces, which are each accompanied with a poem (on his YouTube channel), takes the form of contemporary program music with the music representing the narrative of Rixa’s poetry. This makes it particularly powerful both musically and emotionally.

This is particularly the case in ‘Sabine’, where the piano holds the main melody whilst a string countermelody weaves in and out, binding the piece together. The harmony is simple and so is the rhythm, leaving the melody somewhat exposed but totally in its element. As the texture grows, the intensity increases as the additional sound effects add a magic to ‘Sabine’ that reflects the romantic description Rixa himself attributes to the piece.

There is an old school electronic vibe to Rixa’s music; the instrumental quality reminiscent of movie soundtracks from the 80s. But it is this quality of mixing the old with the new that makes Rixa music so interesting to listen to. His music touches people’s souls and with tens of thousands of YouTube listeners attesting to this, we also agree that Rixa make beautiful music.

Like this:

Remembering the forgotten promises

From Silentaria: “Rixa White had composed a draft version of the ‘Forgotten Promises’ melody in 1992. After 20 years, on December 2012, being emotionally touched by tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he completed the initial melody and released it as a single track in honoring Sandy Hook Elementary School victims.”

However the song came into being, it was worth waiting for. It’s not the somber funeral dirge you might expect in the aftermath of such a tragedy of young lives suddenly taken away. Instead it’s a more upbeat melody remembering and honoring the children of Sandy Hook Elementary, a celebration of their lives, in my interpretation.

Unlike the ethereal synthesized music of Rixa White in more recent compositions, “Forgotten Promises” has a more conventional sound of piano and strings, but it’s just as mesmerizing.

A sensitive response to tragedy

For the growing audience to Silentaria no introduction is necessary . . .

The extremes of electronic music are fully explored in this dreamlike song from Silentaria. Not only is there an obvious piano keyboard in the foreground, but also voices and full orchestra and even guitar modes are added gradually until the entire spectrum of music is reproduced with great beauty. Apparently Rixa White had composed a draft version of “Forgotten Promises” melody in 1992. After 20 years, on December 2012, getting emotionally touched by tragedies like Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he completed the initial melody and released it as a single track in honoring Sandy Hook Elementary School victims.

At a time when solace is much needed, the music by Rixa White in this `Forgotten Promises’ helps soothe away some of the pain we feel and helps us enter a better state of mind.

After releasing two successive albums; The Beginning of the End in 2011 and What’s Real? in 2012, Silentaria, an Electronic New Age musical project by Rixa White, released their first single track, ”Forgotten Promises” which is a piano-based pop-like music piece, on December 25th 2012.

Rixa White had composed a draft version of “Forgotten Promises” melody in 1992. After 20 years, on December 2012, getting emotionally touched by tragedies like Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he completed the initial melody and released it as a single track.

This Contemporary Instrumental track has a Christmas and New Year theme. It contains three main parts. The first two parts are mainly Piano-based followed by Violins and some mellow and soft Classic instruments such as Strings harmonies. A group of Electronic Synths can be heard in the background which add more depth to it. The final part starting from 02:35 mark, uses drums and percussions and repeats a background theme of Violins and Choirs, looping each time along with a different main melody played by Flutes and Guitars and fades out to the end of the track.

“Forgotten Promises” track concept emphasizes the fact that by reviewing the years of our life, we’ll find out that in spite of all our promises and hopes, things have just got worse and somehow it seems something more than a simple promise is needed to make a real change in the world.

The track cover image illustrates a lonely white Grand Piano surrounded by snowflakes, stars, lights and pixie dusts sprinkling from its end, demonstrating Christmas and New Year theme. The icy blue background color projects coldness of hopelessness. The deep blue eye at the top left represents our inner consciousness that is a witness of our promises. Two semi-transparent Violins in both sides of the image remind the Violins and Strings used in the track harmonies.

Rixa White has published a poem with the same name of “Forgotten Promises” track and there is a music video with Christmas theme background videos and slideshows that combines the poem with this track.

Is there a prescription to stop living in fear and guilt? Is rebellion one of the main ingredients? What if a masked man in white holds a key to answer? Will you listen to his music as a cure?

The rebellion concept has played a significant role in the evolution of contemporary music. Concepts and attitudes along with costumes and hairstyles have expressed various forms of rebellion in music history. Silentaria; an Electronic New Age musical project created by Rixa White; is intended to be in contact with that potentially rebellious part of us and awaken the rebel who is hiding somewhere inside.

Rixa White, a long-haired man in plain white, hiding his face behind a white mask is Silentaria iconic image. He might be the first New Age artist that purposefully focuses on encouraging his listeners not to fear, stop feeling guilty and live the life to the fullest, instead of forcing them to relaxation and serenity. Silentaria opposes presenting any step-by-step instructions or belief systems since persuading a particular constant direction will lead to conformity and obedience.

Beside his music, Rixa White’s poems and videos are in compliance with the aforementioned concept. For instance, against all advices that ask you to drop all masks from your face, “One Mask To Hide Them All” video emphasizes the doubt that even your face might be another mask chosen for you and encourages you to choose your own mask to tell the truth and become the change.

With such a rebellious vision, he has been criticized as an unorthodox in New Age music world and been told that his rebellious music concept can create a chaos in beliefs and lead to melancholy. “It is my intention to release the well-hidden deep chronic sense of insecurity and dissatisfaction in my listeners. I insist on facing the life burden instead of pretending that everything is fine outside while suffering inside. Rixa White said as an agnostic atheist musician and added a quote from Nietzsche: “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star” to answer the critics”.